1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the treatment of ulcers, and particularly to a composition for treating ulcers containing ground charcoal, ground mustard seed and an edible salt dissolved or suspended in an edible oil.
2. Description of the Related Art
A peptic ulcer, also known as ulcus pepticum or peptic ulcer disease (PUD), is an ulcer (an ulcer is typically defined as mucosal erosions equal to or greater than 0.5 cm) of an area of the gastrointestinal tract that is usually acidic and, thus, extremely painful. As many as 80% of ulcers are associated with Helicobacter pylori, a spiral-shaped bacterium that lives in the acidic environment of the stomach. Ulcers can also be caused or worsened by drugs, such as aspirin.
Symptoms of a peptic ulcer include abdominal pain, bloating and abdominal fullness, waterbrash (a rush of saliva after an episode of regurgitation to dilute the acid in esophagus), nausea and copious vomiting, loss of appetite and weight loss, hematemesis (i.e., vomiting of blood), melena (tarry, foul-smelling feces due to oxidized iron from hemoglobin), and, rarely, gastric or duodenal perforation. The latter is extremely painful and requires immediate surgery.
Younger patients with ulcer-like symptoms are often treated with antacids or H2 antagonists before an esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD) is undertaken. Bismuth compounds may actually reduce or even clear organisms, though it should be noted that the warning labels of some bismuth subsalicylate products indicate that the product should not be used by someone with an ulcer.
Patients who are taking nonsteroidal antiinflammatories (NSAIDs) may also be prescribed a prostaglandin analogue in order to help prevent peptic ulcers, which may be a side effect of the NSAIDs. When H. pylori infection is present, the most effective treatments are combinations of two antibiotics (e.g., clarithromycin, amoxicillin, tetracycline, metronidazole) and one proton pump inhibitor (PPI), sometimes together with a bismuth compound. In complicated, treatment-resistant cases, three antibiotics (e.g. amoxicillin+clarithromycin+metronidazole) may be used together with a PPI and sometimes with bismuth compound. An effective first-line therapy for uncomplicated cases would be amoxicillin+metronidazole+pantoprazole (a PPI). In the absence of H. pylori, long-term higher dose PPIs are often used.
Treatment of H. pylori usually leads to clearing of infection, relief of symptoms and eventual healing of ulcers. Recurrence of infection can occur and re-treatment may be required, if necessary with other antibiotics. Since the widespread use of PPIs in the 1990s, surgical procedures (such as “highly selective vagotomy”) for uncomplicated peptic ulcers became obsolete.
Such treatments, however, are typically not easy for the patient and side effect free. Heavy dosages of antibiotics can cause further digestive problems for the patient, as well as cause the patient immunity-related problems as well as a host of various side effects associated with each drug. Further, the usage of varying types of antibiotics promotes the proliferation of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in the environment.
Thus, a composition and method for treating ulcers solving the aforementioned problems is desired.